Marie Sklodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellow (USAL4Excellence Program)
Geology Department | Salamanca University
Many of us have been awestruck by breathtaking landscapes, pondering their formation and preservation. Thanks to my career as a geologist specializing in microfossils, I delve into these wonders. Thanks to tiny fossils from both land and sea environments, I unravel evolutionary patterns, reconstruct ancient ecosystems, and establish relative time frames. Despite seeming romantic or trivial, my work holds crucial applications, notably in providing essential data to the oil industry, potentially saving millions.
So, I am a geologist, specialized in the study of terrestrial microfossils like pollen and spores (palynologist).
My research focuses on unraveling the evolution of northern South American ecosystems. Currently, I’m exploring the transformations that have shaped the onset and establishment of the Humboldt Current System. My aim is to understand how past climatic, oceanographic, and tectonic changes have impacted the coastal marine environments of the Pacific South American coasts, along with the associated continental landscape. I achieve this by integrating the continental record with marine microfossils, geochemical proxies, and the stratigraphic record.
Contact details:
e-mail: diana.ochoa at usal.es
Phone office: (+34) 677565249 / (+34) 923 29 45 00 ext. 6305
Address: Plaza de los caídos, 37008, Salamanca, Spain
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6242-4202
My profile at USAL: https://rb.gy/znodz
